Craoterrry-pickiwg machine



' 0. TERVO.

CRANBERRY PICKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15, 1918- l,323,928.. Patented Dec. 2,1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- 6 1 Z 35 34 if 24 2-7- w/r/wssses OSCQI" 7 e W0 0. TERVO.

CRANBERRY PICKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15. 1918.

Patented Dec. 2, 1919.

3SHEETS-SHEET 2.

TAVEESES 0. TERVO.

CRANBERRY PICKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15. I918. 1,323,928 Patented Dec. 2,1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

Fly/a5 OSCAR TERVO, OF WEST QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS.

CRANBERRY-PICKING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedDec. 2, 1919.

I Application filed July 15, 1918. Serial No. 244,966.

To an whom it may concern Be it known that I, OSCAR Tnnvo, a citizen of Russia, residing at West Quincy, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cranberry-Picking chines, of which the following is a specification. I I

This invention relates to harvesters, and more especially to berry pickers; and the object of the same is to produce a machine for gathering cranberries; As is well known to thos engaged in this business, cranberries grow on vines in bogs and are now ordinarily picked by hand by means of scoops. A scoop has a bottom made of fingers, a rigid top connected'atits rear end with the base of said fingers and diverging thence from them toward their tips, and a stop board movably mounted so that it may be passed across the mouth of the scoop which is the space between the free edge of the top and the tips of the fingers. The latter are run through the vines; then the stop board is depressed to close the mouth of the scoop, and then the entire scoop is lifted to pick the berries from the vines, leaving comparatively few leaves within the scoop. The charge of material thus collected is then dumped into a receptacle and carried to a remote point, where it is subjected to separator treatment to remove the leaves and vines and leave only the berries. I propose to construct a machine having wheels of broad tread'so that they will travel successfully over boggy ground, and equipped with moving scoops of substantially the construction above described, with means for closing the scoops at proper points, with devices for strippingthe charge from the scoops at another point when they are opened and with a carrier and elevator for collecting the 'chargeso stripped from the scoop and delivering it at a single point.

The features of this invention may be said to be those which carry out the idea thus broadly stated, and for details of the "preferred construction'of my invention reference is made to the following specification and claims and 'attention'is invited to the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a plan view of this machine complete, with parts "of the framework broken away, v

of the scoops,

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through. the several scoops and the mechanism for carrying them' and for opening and closing them, and across section through the stripping and carrying mechanism which stands transverse to the gathering mechanism, V

Fig. '8 is an enlarged sectional detail through the track on the line 33 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 1 is an enlarged side elevation of on Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view of one of the scoops, partly broken away, 7

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional detail of one ofthe combs and one of the carriers, taken on about the line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

The main frame 1 is mounted on two rear wheels 2 and a front wheel 3 which is capable of being turned by the steering mecha nism a and a handwheel 5 adjacent the drivers seat 6; and although I have shown but a single front wheel it is obvious that a pair of front wheels might be employed. For motive power I preferably use a small gasolene engine'7 whosepower shaft 8 is connected by sprockets and chains 9 with'the main axle 10 as seen only in Fig. l. The control levers and other details of the engine are omitted. The main frame carries a subframe 11 in which most of the mechanism yetto be described is,located and supported, but in this specification I will not elaborate details of the framework, bearings, carrier, elevator, etcetera. connected by gears 12 with a longitudinal shaft 13 as seen in Fig. 1, and this in turn is connected by gears 14: with a cross shaft 15 mounted in the sub-frame. The cross The power'shaft 8 is.

shaft in turn is connected by sprockets and chains 16 with the shaft 17 of the lower roller of an endless belt moving upward in an elevator 18, and the shaft 17 is connected "by gearing 19 with the carrier shaft 20 best seen in Fig. 6.- -I do not wish to be limited, "however, to this preferred means of conveying power from the main shaft 8 to the several mechanisms yet to be described, but the illustration with this brief description will suffice to set forth one means for attaining the end desired. a

The gathering mechanism described below includes a pair of chains carrying a series of scoops, a second'pair of chains for holding the scoops ever horizontal, and means for o'penlng and closing them at times. Large sprocket wheels 21 are mount ed fast on the cross shaft 15 and smaller upper and lower sprocket wheels 22' and'23' on stub-shafts inside the sub-frame 11 near the rear end of the latter, and around these becalled the power chains.

sprockets move endless chains 24 which will What may well be called track chains 25 co-act with the power chains and move over front tracks .26 and rear tracks 27. The'upper and lower stretches of e the two. pairs of, cha ns "are.

parallel and horizontally coincident, altl iou'gh. the trackfch'ains are outside the I power chains as. seen in Fig. 1. 1 Atthe front of the gathering mechanism as seen. at the left of Fig. 2 the tracks'QG 'bowfor ward of the front sides of the sprocket Wheels 2 1,.Iand at: the rear. of thegathering met/11 an'ism thertracks27. areal so at the forward side'of the upwardly rising stretch of-the power chains as there shown i In other words, at the front andrear. the'tracks are forward. of the corresponding stretches at the. front and-rear, of the p owerchains Each scoop :(see; Fig'sLQ and 4 has a slattedwbottom made upof a nLnnber-of teeth or fhigers-Bdinclining downward and rearward from the front end, I a fixed and closed top plate '31 extending rearward and horizontally ctr-emsa-id front end, two side arms 82 pivoted at their forward ends to the front end oi?- the body, and a lip 33' carried by anddependmg. from the rear ends of said armsandadaptedwhen depressed tov close the no uhhtofthe scoop WlhlCl'LlS that. pore tion between the rear extremities of its'top i plate 31 and fingers At each end of the bod 1s a crank arm as best seen ll'lFl l. 5

andthe shank 3 L ofeachcrankarm is con tracks 27;}1 speak of the scoops as being substantially ho rizontal,bnt itis their top' plates which aredierizontalwhile their finge-rs30 incline rearwardlya littleas seen;

[ but 7 when the lip] 83 is closed the material w'ithin tne scoopcannot run. out, despite siich, inclination of the fingers. [Instantlards orbearings 36r1s1ng from they top plate or" each scoop is mounted ashaftgSg? whose extremities have cranks 38 which proj ectbe- V tween oppositely. acting springs 39 disposed within slotted boxes d0 mountedson the arms dwitha oower chain 124; whilethe crank 32. The springs oppose each other and hold the cranks\38 normally centered within said boxes, andwhen the arms 32 are raisedas seen in Fig. 4: they are held raised,'whereas whensaid arms are depressed by any means which g ve the cranks 38 a halt revolution,

the'colmteracting force of the springs will hold the cranks depressed and the arms down. Therefore such structure. will' hold the lip of each scoop either up or down as desired, but" will not permit 1ft to stop at an intermediate position. driving-monnection. between .the power shaft 8 and the 1 cross. shaft, 15 which carries. the large sprocket wheels 21, 1s snclrthat thepower chains 24: and the series of scoops move more rapidly to. the rear;than the machine travels over the, 'groimdfland the open mouths of the scoops are carried rea wv ardly through the vines gwhile themachineds progressing 4 gang the bog; 3 Injorder to. gatherin, the berrles eaohscoop opens as it movegto the rear, at; the bottom, ,as indicated by-the far row in. Fi 2 then beforeit. be 'ins'to ast) 3 7 a; V

cend onfthe .rear'f tracks the; cranks, 38

strike lugs L1 and are given a .lialfjrevolntlon 'so' thatthe'scoop 1s closed, and 1t. remains closedi durmgits passage, around the lower sprocket wheels 23- and aroimd' theupper. sprocket wheels 22 as seen at the right of Fig. Having ,passed the u er sprocket. wheels, thecranks 38 strike-other lugs QtQrWhereby. the armsland lip are raised andthe month of "the scoopfi opened again, and 4 it remainsv open, while. it. passes around the remainder of'its elliptical path. There fore the charge, of; material; gathered amigthebettorn .stretchf ofchainsis delivered at mt. along. the topstretch; while the na closing 10f the 1 sceops. and automatlc open ng. thereo'i is produced tln'ough Fig. 1. The gathering. mechanism having tlins"perfor1necl. its. work, mean are 116803.- sary. to receive the berries I picked, and we pzasstothe. nest-rea r.r1i@ invention. A, carrier issupported withinthe main name, its casing. 5.0fb'eing disposed; trans verselytliereofas seen .in Fig. 2-. and. extending ..completelyfthrongh the. two pairs oi chains .in' rear of the d r' This carrier isnnad np rot-preferably three endless aprens 51 moving around idle rollers52,at the right. side ofthemachine and the 'ins trnnientali-tyofthe cranks .38 and vlirgs l-l and .42.. These. lugs. are carried by H brackets liZ' connected with the main frame and i, one: of? which is shown at the top of v-ing sprockets 21. V

power rollers 5 3 fat the left side fofithe machinelon t the shaftlQQ, and it. will be Linden.

stood from Fig, .1 ,that. the] carrier conveys the material; through the .imain frame; and dehvers t to the elevator.- The latter raises italon-gside th machine and delivers the,

material into ahopper, or intoga baggat I ieo tached beneath the upper end of the elevator for this purpose; or it might be possibleto drive a wagon alongside and permit the elevator to deliver into that. These details successively opened, as will be seen in Fig.

2 and for the purpose of stripping all the material out of each scoop in case it'should become cloggedtherein, I provide a series of combs as seen in Fig. 6. If there are three carrier aprons as shown, there will be three combs, one just forward of eachapron, and by preference these combs will be actuated successively as described below.

Within the casing 50 is mounted a guide which may well be made of tubing as seen at 60, the same rising from the bottom of the casing and standing between the'idler rollers 52 at one side and the power rollers 53 at the other side. The top of the guide is provided with upright openings '61 in which are guided upright teeth 62 constituting the comb and mounted on a transverse comb head 63. From the latter rigidly de pends a stem 64 working in an upright guide 65 which has a slot at one side as seen at 66. A comb lever 67 projects through this slot and engages a pin 68 in the side of the stem, the lever being moved from time i to time by the action of a cam 69 which is rotated through gears 69 connecting it with the shaft 20. One appropriate means of forming the lever and the cam is shown in Fig. 6, but I'do not wish to be limited at all in this connection, and therefore it will not be necessary to describe the same. It is sufficient to say that at appropriate moments the cam and lever cause the rise of the pin and comb, and the teeth,62 of the latter areprojected through the guide openings 61 as seen at the left of Fig. 2 so that they pass between the 'fingersSO in the scoop which is at that time above the carrier, and the material within this scoop is stripped out of it and permitted to drop onto the apron 51. The parts will be so timed that as the next succeeding scoop comes over the carrier casing 50, it is thesecond comb which rises and strips the contents out of it; then the next succeeding scoop will be actuated by the third comb, and thereafter the cycle is repeated, and the following scoop is treated again by'the first comb. For this reason the material is delivered successively ontothe several aprons of thecarrier, and the latter does not become choked. These aprons convey the material to the elevator 18, for treatment as above suggested. As the general operation ofthis machine has been. given in connection with the description of its several features, I will not repeat it here.

1 my invention.

The foregoing description and the drawings have reference to what may be considered the preferred, or approved form of It is to be'understood that I may make such changes in construction and arrangement and combination of parts,

materials, dimensions, et cetera, as may prove expedient and fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a cranberry gatherer, a scoop having a fixed'top, a bottom composed of fingers diverging from the top from the front toward the mouth of the scoop at the rear,

arms pivotally connected with said top at their front ends, and a lip carriedby said arms for closing said mouth; combined with means for moving said scoop through the vines to gather the berries, means for mechanically closing said lip and raising the scoop out of the vines, and means for mechanically opening the lip to dump the berrles.

2. In acranberry gatherer, a scoop having a fixed top, a bottom composed of fingers diverging from the top from the front toward the mouth of the scoop at the rear, arms pivotally connected with said top at their front ends, and a lip carried by said arms for closing said mouth; combined with endless chains for moving the scoop horizontally through the vines for gathering the berries, and means adjacent said chains for opening thelip before such movement, closing it after the berries are gathered and while the scoop is ascending at the rear of said endless chains, and opening the lip at a point in'the upper stretch of the chains, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a cranberry gatherer, a scoop havsaid scoop horizontally through the vines and gathering berries and then raising the scoop and carrying it back to the beginning of its second stroke through the vines, means on the scoop for raising and lowering the arms to open and close the lip, and lugs engaged by said means at certain points in the travel of the scoop near the rear of the frame, as described.

4. In a cranberry gathorer, a scoop having a fixed top, a bottom composed of fingcrs diverging from the top from the front toward the mouth of the scoop at the rear, armspivotally connected with said top at their front ends, and a lip carried by said.

arms for closing. said mouth; combined' withbarings on said lip,.crank-arm on said :arins, opposed springsfin each box, a shaft .journaled in said bearings and having crankedends projecting ,through the boxes between the spr ngs thereln, means, for moving the scoop, and lugs with whichthe .pro eet ng ends of the cranksengage torralsing and lowering said arms and opening. and

closing the mouth pr the scoop at intervals,

as described.

' 5 In a cranberry-picker, thecombination with. a series of scoops whereof each comprises abody having anormally open mouth at its rear end and a slatted bottom, a movably supported stop plate'for closing. said inoutlngand at each end of said body a crankwhose shank. projects therefrom at 'one point andwvhose crank pin projects lromthearm at another pomt; of a pairof endless powei chains. with which said shanks are connected at mtervals, another palr'ot' chains, with ,which said pins are connected at like intervals, spaced wheels carrying the first-named chains through a substan tial ly elliptical path, and. tracks. carrying the secondnamed chains, through a path of corresponding shape except thatits, front andrear stretches are disposed forward of the correspondingstretches ot the other path-, -torthe purpose set forth.

at its rear end and aslatted bottom, a movably supported lip for closing-said mouth, and at each end ofsaid body-a crank-arm whose shank proj ects, therefrom at, one point and whose crank pin projects from the crank at another point; of a pair of endless power chains with which said shanks are connected at intervals, another pair [of chains with which said pinsare connected at like intervals, apair of large sprocket wheels atthe front" end of the first-named chains and two pair oi 'small sprocket w-heels at the rear end thereotwhereby the chains are caused to travelvaround a substantially .elliptical path, a pair oftracksadjacent the large sprocket wheels, :outsidevthe same re spectively, struck. on curves corresponding I with the curvature ofthe front sidesot these wheels, and advanced beyond said sides, and

a pair ot tracks similarly disposed with wrespect to, the rear-sprocket wheels and ad- I 6. In acranberry picker, thecombination with a: series of scoopswhereof each comr ses a body having a'normally open mouth inclining rearward I to. their mouths, and

for closing and opening saidmouths; of I a carrler disposedtransversely through said chains, and str ppingmechanism atthe forward side of said carrier including teeth projecting through the bottoms of the Ina cranberry picker, the comb nat on with chains movmgthroughf a substantially elliptical path,a series of scoops mounted I on said chains. and having" slatted bottoms inclining rearward. to their mouths, and means for closing'and opening sa d mouths; of a carrierid sposed transversely through said chains, and at theforward side ofsaid I carriera comb'comprising an upright stem,

atransverse comb 'head, and a plurality of upri ht teeth .sha e'd to enter thejslots in the bottom of each scoop as it passes over the comb, for, stripping the materialoutof the same while. its mouth is open. l i I 9, In a cranberry picker, the combination with chains moving :througha substantially elliptical path, a. series of scoops mounted on. said chains andjhaving slatted bottoms inclining rearward to tneir mouths, and

means for closin and opening said mouths at/intervals; of; a carrier movable transversely throughlsaid chains and comprising a plurality. of spaced carrier aprons,-a' strip}- per at the front edge of each apron' coniprising a comb having upstanding-teeth,

and means for raising andjl'owering the comb at will.

10.ln afcranberry picken'the combinetion with chains moving .fthrougha substantially elliptical path, aser es 0t scoops mountedpnsmd chains and having slatted bottoms. inclining rearward to theirv months,

and means Jtor, closing and I opening said mouths at intervals; of .a carrier, movable transversely. through said, chains and I comiprising a plurality. ,or-sp itd carrier aprons, a guide 'disposedv alongT'the "front edge. of

eachlap'ron. and having upright openings, a I

comb head-"underlying the guideand having upright, teeth passing loosely through said openings, a stem. depending rigidly from said head, a lever connectedwith said stem for ra sing. and. lowering the comb, and: a

cam for actuating said lever, the cam being timed to raise the comb asascoop isrpassing over'it. I II II I 11.1121 a cranberry plcking mach ne, the

combinationwith endlessc-hains moving in substantially. elliptical. path, and? gathering means vcarrled thereby or carrler (C -1F;

posed transversely through the chains, stripe ping means for transferring the material gathered onto..-the carrier, anddelivering I means to which the carrier'delivers;

12. In: a cranberry picking machine, the

combination with. endlesschains, moving I in a substantiallyelliptical .angrgathere 111g means carried thereby; of a carrier dis- In testimony whereof I aflix my signature posed transversely through the chains, stripin presence of two Witnesses: ping means for transferring the material OSCAR TERVO gathered onto the carrier, an elevator to which said carrier delivers a main frame WVitnesses: mounted on Wheels and carrying all instru- SULA URPILAINEN, inentalities and means for driving them. ROSA URPILAINEN. 

